worse thing Alesis did was to upgrade to plus version without offering the upgrade to orignial owners for free, considering there was not a price hike for the plus version on the original QS price. Now they no longer provide the upgrade service which is really poor. This means some cards wont work with the original QS.

The moral of the story is.. buy a QSR you get a lot more for your money

posted Sunday-Oct-07-2001 at 13:47

Bruce S
a professional user
from United States
writes:

The original Quadrasynth was a mess. Alesis dropped the ball by releasing a synth that wasn't of a standard that many users were willing to pay a fairly steep price for, that and a ton of quality control issues plauged the synth.

Much of this was corrected on the Plus Piano version which included a new OS, 8mb of additional samples, giving it a respectable 24mb or sample data; including a good quality piano along with new e.p. and organ samples. Also of significant importance; the preset patches sounded better.

This synth gets maligned (to some degree deservedly) but with the QSPP Alesis got things right. The keybed is of good quality, the display is well planned out and in it's day 4 controller knobs were a unique idea. In it's day this was the only 64 voice polyphonic synth, had a well designed modulation matrix and with minimal reading a good user interface.

No resonant filter was a bad move. It was claimed putting resonant filters into the QSPP would have reduced polyphony to 32 instead of 64 voices. I don't know why, that was the response constantly given.

That said there is a clairity to samples that is appealing. This synth lets you manipulate sound fairly well and the library of samples are very good to useless. The style of the patches are Korg like but sit better in mixes. I know people that feel this synth is cold sounding but I like it because of it's detailed sound.

It is great for pads and strings. The guitars are fair, reeds are very good, organs and e.p.'s range from excellent to ok, the ability to make strange sounds is there. I like that kind of stuff, you might not. It doesn't sound analog so blow it off if that's what you want. It's not a synthesis powerhouse like a SY77 or XP80 but it sounds a way better after a couple of years distance from using it and dealing with build quality.

Seriously, I had problems with the one I purchased and eventually dealer took it back and sold me a XP50, good sound engine but what a pig! Horrible interface, terrible keys.

Check out the Quadrasynth Plus Piano if you are looking for a sample based playback unit and want 76 keys. It makes for a good controller. Taken for what it is and the low price this is a good starter synth with enough pro features to make it worth hanging on to.

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Sunday-Sep-16-2001 at 18:08

Koos Fockens
a hobbyist user
from Devon, England
writes:

Hi, I've owned my Quadrasynth for 5 years now. I use it as my master keyboard due to it's 76 keys. I like the sounds of it, there are some great ones, and some bad ones but in general fairly useful. If there was one thing missing (for my kind of synth use) it would me a better filter. The one in the QS is a rather simple LP type, with no resonance. I'd like to have seen BP and HP as well with more modulation routings on it and of course resonance! However you can simulate this by layering several different samples of the same instrument and have them respond different to velocity.If you are starting out and have a limited budget this one is well worth considering! Nice FX, good sound, and average built quality. Not bad!

Rating: 4 out of 5
posted Wednesday-May-09-2001 at 08:09

Marten
a hobbyist user
from Sweden
writes:

I think the Qs is a real killer! It started a new era for Alesis when it came. The sounds are fabulous and it is really easy to create an own sound... If I had 500$ and was looking for my first synth I would surely buy a QuadraSynth!

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Friday-Dec-01-2000 at 03:13

Daniel Tenselius
a professional user
from Sweden
writes:

If you´re looking for a cheap non-weighted masterkeyboard this is the number one choice. Reasonably reugged design, metal chassis and low weight makes it ideal for live performance. Unfortunately it packs no usable preset sounds whatsoever, and you really don´t want to make your own. But as I said....as a masterkeyboard it rocks. On stage it has endured plenty of rough solos without letting me down once.